Online entrepreneur Nicole Dean teaches internet marketing tips and strategies. She also interviews other successful internet business owners to find out the secrets to their online success. Find out what they're doing that you're not.

Marketers Stranded on a Deserted Island – NO Technology

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It’s another Expert Briefs, where I ask really smart business owners to answer your burning questions.

If you’ve missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

This week I asked our expert friends something a little different …

Let’s say that you’re being paid a million dollars to be stranded on a deserted island for one month. You’ll have a nice bungalow and will have food and water delivered as well as necessities like soap and sunscreen – but NO technology.

You can, however, pack up to 10 books.
Which books would you bring? Why?

So, let’s have a look at what everyone is packing for their island trip this week…

4. Secrets of Successful Direct Mail by Dick Beson – because, let’s face it, direct mail is back with a bang, and no one teaches the principles behind it better than Mr.Benson. It’s one book in my collection I would never give away!

B. If I had no idea when (or even IF) I was going to get off that desert island, my choices would be VERY different. No point getting ‘business building’ books then, right? So this is what I’d pick up:

10. Aladdin Factor by Jack Canfield – because he teaches the power of ASKING with total confidence and belief that you’ll get what you ask for… and I’ll be asking to be let off the desert island soon! 🙂

Looking forward to read the recommendations of other experts, thanks for letting me be a part of this one, Nicole.

Shannon Cherry of List Building Promotion Secrets says:

You know, I love reading, but since I do so much of it for work, it’s hard for me to want to read at all!

So please, pay me to be stranded… please! And here are the books I’d bring:

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Again, I actually asked this question because I need some good book recommendations. I always strive to make myself a better person so I read as much as I can.

However, I know already what 5 of the books I’d bring even before I asked the question.

3 Notebooks.
I’d bring 3 empty notebooks and I would spend the month writing. I can’t even imagine how much I’d accomplish in that time. Just think how creative you’d be without the distraction of technology. I could take those notebooks home at the end, and hire a Virtual Assistant to type them all in and, voila!, I’d finally have all of my next infoproducts done!

One Journal.
A place to write my thoughts that weren’t related to business. I’d write notes to my kids, jot down my personal reflections during the long, quiet days, and any “ah-ha” moments related to becoming a better person.

I think this qualifies.
A photo album of my family. I’d miss my kids too much if I couldn’t see their little smiley faces.

For my last 5 books, it’s more of a struggle.
On the one hand, I’m thinking I should bring LONG books because I read really fast. Like maybe I could finally read War and Peace or re-read Gone With the Wind.

Decisions, decisions…

CONFESSION: There are books that I’d like to bring vs. the books that I would actually bring.

I’d like to think I’d bring something to make myself a better person, but probably, I’d just bring some steamy sexy vampire novels. A month is a long time to be alone, if you know what I’m sayin’. 😉

However, if I were to list the books that I’d hope I’d bring (and not the steamy ones), I can only think of one, and probably not for the reason you’re thinking.

The Bible. Yeah, I know. It’s a standard answer. But, I’ve never read it, and I think it would be interesting because it’s something I know very little about. I’d want a version that put things into historical context and included annotations to explain the differences in perspective of each chapter, preferably in a scholarly manner.

Then, what I’d do, is to ask some people who I admire what they’d recommend and then bring those books.

Oh wait. That’s what I just did. 😀 (Pretty smart, eh?)

As for genres, for my last four books, I’d like to bring..

A time-management book. I love them and could read one every day. (Yes, I get the irony there.)

A classic novel that I haven’t read.

A biography or autobiography of someone I admire from history. I like to see how people actually handle situations, not just what they “say” they’d do. Actions speak louder than words.

A financial investment book. I’d want to know how to best handle the million dollars that I’ll be handed.

Now, let’s hear from you …

Your Turn.

Which 10 books would you bring?

Loretta gave me a great idea. She wanted to post a list on her blog and link to this blog post.

So, let’s all do it. If you’d like to answer this question, please post your list on your blog (with a link to this post if you wouldn’t mind) and then comment here to let us know where you posted your book list so we can go see!

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Comments

I love these posts. They are always insightful and fun. I’m not sure 10 books are enough though!

1.Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd – Youngme Herd / In an age where we are bombarded with cookie cutter department stores, and microwave mindsets it really pays to be different.

2.Fascinate: Your 7 triggers to Persuasion & Captivation – Sally Hogshead / One of the areas where I plan to start a ‘hobby’ blog (not sure how i’d moneitze it) is in the area of customer service and understanding why we react and respond to stimuli in the way we do. ie: why we buy when we buy, etc…This book as well as a couple others on list are helping me understand the phenomena.

3.Treat Me Like a Customer: Using Lessons from Work to Succeed in Life – Louis Upkins Jr / Same as listed in #2.

4.Why we Buy: The Science of Shopping – Paco Underhill / Same as listed in #2.

7.Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles between vision and reality – Scott Belsky / I believe that every person is created with a purpose and a plan. However some get boggled down in the circumstances of life and never get beyond it. Some rise to the challenge, and some blow the doors of any obstacle that gets in their way. One of the reasons I want to check out this book is to gain some insight as to why some are able.

8.The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth and Purpose – Robert Pagliarini / Schedules are crazy. Work, 3 kids, a wife, church responsibilites, hobbies, im stuff all vying for a piece of the pie that is my time! I need boundaries and balance. This book is going to help.

10.ESV Study Bible / This book as it all: murder, betrayal, sex, betrayal, and some more betrayal, followed by yet a bit more betrayal…but it weaves the story of One who is able to make it right and to give more than we ask or imagine!

Great article – very thought provoking plus some really interesting items to follow up on. As a Sandwich Generation caregiver, I’d never do this BUT if I was forced to, hmmmm…

For me, the Bible is definitely first. It’s the most important book in the world and the most important to me. Because of my aging baby boomer eyes, I’d take my NIV large print life application study Bible, and I’d also pack my New American Standard/The Message Parallel Bible. I’d pack 2 of the marketing books in my room I still haven’t had time to read -Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples and Web Marketing For Dummies, and I’d follow your great advice, Nicole, and take a book full of our photos of sweet family memories with kids, grandkids, and friends as well as 5 really thick notebooks for writing, writing, writing. Last, I’d take one good book full of fun activities for grandparents and their grandchildren, like Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars by Sharon Lovejoy, so I can also spend some time planning out my next set of fun and educational activities for grandparents and their grandchildren. Then I’d be all ready to create new adventures with them when I get back to seeing my cute grandkids! 🙂

And now, I’m off to check out some of the books you and others have recommended! Thanks again!

I’m going to cheat a little bit and take the entire Harry Potter book set, so that’s books 1 through 7 for me.

Book Number 8 is one of my favorite books that I carry around with me, Too Deep to Fall, Poetry by Brian S. Oliver. Yes, I’m admittedly a little biased in my opinion that it’s completely awesome.

Book Number 9 off my bookshelf is The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas, a classic favorite that I read again and again. (By the way, have you met my oldest son, Dylan Thomas Oliver?)

Book Number 10 from the shelf is The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, which has all the poetry and short stories in it. I could read it a million times over and over again (and I assure you that my copy is quite worn) but I figure that’s a good thing for being on a desert island with nothing but my thoughts.

Fascinating lists. I must say, however, if I was stranded on a desert island I wouldn’t take internet marketing books: I’d take “How to Survive on a Desert Island”, “Poisonous Plants and How to Spot Them”, “Bugs and Men: The Protein Myth”, “1001 Things to Do with Coconuts”, “Monkey Mastery – the Secret of Getting Chimps to Do Your Bidding (and Like It!)”, “How to Build a Coconut Leaf Raft”, “Crafting with Sand, Shells and Armadillo”, “Poisonous Darts and How to Make Them Without Dying”, “The Southern Stars: A Practical Guide to Navigation” and, because it’s nice and lonnnnng, Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”.

You could also check out this ‘inspiring and encouraging’ piece of work – Isolation: Effects of Restricted Sensory and Social Environments on Human Beings -Charles Brownfield. It’s under $20 on Amazon. This would tell you how things might end up!!! 🙂

1. My Bible (NIV version)
2. A book on plants and herbs (as this is a fascinating topic to this gardening hobbyist).
3. On Walden’s Pond (Henry David Thoreau – I love his profound quotes)
4. The Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas)
5. Some sort of craft book with natural things (so I could make some crafts with what’s surrounding me)
6. A basket weaving book so I could weave vines into baskets to sell at craft fairs upon my “enriched” return.
7. A financial book (probably from Dave Ramsey) to help me with my money upon my return.
8. A Tree grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
9. Tom Sawyer
10. Mark Twain’s autobiography or the like.

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My mission: To help busy online marketers, specifically infoproduct sellers, to build sustainable online businesses that help them reach their financial and lifestyle goals while making both the web and the world a better place. And, hopefully having a lot of fun while doing it!